NEW BRITAIN – March 18, 2009 – Anderson Cooper, host of CNN’s premier primetime newscast, Anderson Cooper 360°, will be this year’s Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecture speaker at Central Connecticut State University. 

Cooper will deliver the lecture on Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m., in Welte Auditorium on the CCSU campus in New Britain.  Admission is free.

CCSU President Jack Miller cited Cooper for his award-winning journalism, including the Emmy Award he received for ABC’s coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral and the Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia.  “Anderson Cooper has reputation for comprehensive coverage of major national and world events.  We are looking forward to his lecture.”

Since joining CNN in December 2001, Cooper has anchored major breaking news stories, including the network’s overnight coverage of the war in Iraq as news of the military conflict was unfolding live during the day in Baghdad.  Cooper also anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the D.C. area sniper story and the coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion.  His coverage of the devastation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was well-received and groundbreaking.

Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network’s reality program, The Mole.  Cooper anchored ABC’s live, interactive, overnight news and interview program, World News Now as well as providing reports for World News Tonight, 20/20 and 20/20 Downtown.

Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.

The lecture is free and tickets are available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis by sending an e-mail to: vancelecture@ccsu.edu.  Please enter “Vance Lecture Ticket Request” in the subject line.  Due to the heavy demand for tickets, we can honor requests for a maximum of two tickets to the lecture only.  The deadline for requesting tickets is April 8, 2009.

Patrons without access to e-mail may request tickets by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecture, CCSU Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 612, New Britain, CT 06050.

Anyone interested in attending the reception and dinner should call (860) 832-1765. Tickets for the reception and dinner are $85 per person.

Nicholas Pettinico, Jr., associate vice president of Institutional Advancement, said the series is sponsored by a grant from the Robert C. Vance Charitable Foundation. The series honors the late Robert C. Vance, a widely respected journalist who was editor and publisher of The Herald in New Britain from 1951 to 1959.

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